Improvement in boot and shoe sewing machines



3 Sheets -Sheet E. P. RICHARDSON. Boot and Shoe Sewing Machine.

Ptented Aug. 24, 1869.;

' WIT/V5 5555 v s SheetsSheet 2. E. P. RICHARDSON.

Boot and Shoe Sewing Machine.

No. 945134. Patented Aug. 24, 1869.

N. PETERS, Fhwwunw n m. Wash ngton. 0.1;

' E. P. RICHARDSON. Boot and ShoeSewing Machine. No. 94,134. Patented Aug. '24, 1869.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EVERETT P. RICHARDSON, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 94,134, dated August 24, 1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EVERETT P. RICHARD- soN, of Lawrence, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Sewing Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following'is a sufficiently full and exact description thereof to enable others skilled in the art to manufacture or use the same, reference being had to the acompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to machinery for sewing together the soles and uppers of shoes known as turn shoes, they being wrong side out while the sewing is being performed, and afterward turned for finishing; but the invention is also applicable to the sewing of welted boots and shoes.

My improvements consist principally in means for gripping or bending the sole at each stitch and holding it against the thrust of the needle or piercing-instrument, thus insuring the accurate entrance and exit of the piercinginstrument at the proper points, and also in means for facilitating the introduction and removal of the work.

The looping and feeding mechanism and the cast-oft (which is employed to prevent the hooked needle from catching the same loop a second time) may all be constructed and arranged in any manner which is usual in machines of the same class in which a waxed thread is used and a chain-stitch made, or in any other proper way.

For manufacturing simple turned shoes without welts the upper-leather and sole are applied inside out to a last which is preferably grooved around the margin of its bottom to afford room for the hooked end of a bar, which, extending around the edge of the sole, bears against that face thereof which is next the last, and serves, in conjunction with a vibrating bar, whose end bears against the outer face of the sole or against the upper-leather over the sole, to clamp the sole firmly near its edge, for the purpose of holding it in proper position horizontally, and in some classes of work to bend the sole at the time and place of stitching in such a manner that a straight needle may be made to dip into the sole and pass out on the same side or surface at which it enters, and then through the upper-leather without passing through the entire thickness of the solo.

The vertical guiding and holding of the work are efl'ected by a stationary foot, the end of which enters the channel of the sole, which is pressed upward against it in the inverted or inclined position in which the bootor shoe is sewed, and by a vertical reciprocating table or throat-plate, which at every stitch is automatically pressed upward against the upperleather of the inverted shoe, so as to press the said upper-leather against the edge of the sole and the sole against the stationary foot. The reciprocating throat-plate is formed with a suitable aperture, which the needle enters in its descent.

While the needle is descending through the Work so as to form a stitch, the work is firmly held both horizontally and vertically by the gripping devices described; but when the feed movement is to be imparted to the work the gripping devices are retracted. The vertically-reciprocating table is made to adjust itself automatically to the thickness of the work,

and when so adjusted to afford an unyielding support to the work against the thrust of the needle. For this purpose the said table is moved by a lever controlledby a second lever formed with an oblique slot, which works upon a pin projecting from the lever to which the table or throat-plate is attached. The secondary lever, by the action of a suitable spring 1 and through the medium ofthe oblique slot and the pin, presses the table up against the work as far as it will go, and wherever itis arrested by the work it is firmly held by reason of the obliquity of the bearing-slot. Where the work is to be fed forward the secondary lever is retracted by a cam or other suitable mechanism and freely retracts the throat-plate or table.

The feed movement may be produced by the needle or by any known and suitable mechanism.

The looping mechanism and other parts of the machinery which are not herein described or particularly referred to may also be of any usual and suitable kind.

The beveling or chamfering of the edge of the last is not found to be necessary in order to accommodate the guide bar or book, but may be practiced in some classes of work.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end eleva tion of the machine; and Fig. 2, afront eleva tion of the machine, the scale being about halfsize. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section in the plane indicated by the lines Y Y, Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 5 shows the needle in elevation and a fragmentary section of the bent sole. Figs. 4and 6 are transverse sections of shoes of different descriptions prepared for sewing. Figs. 7 and S are respectively transverse sections, representing the same shoes after being sewed and turned. Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view (after turning) of a shoe called thick-edge or mock-welt, the same as is represented in course of sewing in Fig. 2. Fig. 10 represents, by an edge and a plan view in full size, the hook hereinafter described. Fig. ll is a perspective view of a last of improved construction.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

A, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is the bed or frame of the machine; 13, the main shaft; 0, the needle, and D the needle-bar working in the slide E, which has a movement at right angles to the shaft, being actuated bya cam on the shaft (not shown) moving in one direction while the needie is in the work, and returning after the needle is withdrawn, thus feeding the shoe along, constituting what is known as the needle-feed.

Q is the looper, deriving its motion from a cam on a shaft through the connecting-rod V. The east-off is not shown.

The slotted plate P serves to force the work up to the foot H, and serves the purpose of the throat in ordinary sewing-machines, resisting the thrust of the needle. The looper Q, and the throat-plate P are attached to the movable frame R, which is pivoted at and is made to drop down, after the needle has entered the work, by means of the cam T andv the slotted lever 5, thereby releasing the work, so thatit can be fed along by the needle. Then, before the needle is withdrawn, the plate P is brought back againsttheshoebythe action ot'the spring U, thus adjusting itself to any variation in the width of the channel or in the thickness of the upper, which, from the thinnest parts to the part around the heel in which there is a thick stiffening, is considerable. The plate or throat P is held up, without severe pressure on the shoe, but very firmly, by means of the cam or wedge shaped slot in the lever S, the comparative slightness of the spring Ucontrihnting to the easy working of the machine. Uniform pressure can be attained by properly shaping the slot in the lever S. v

In Fig. 2 is shown a section of a shoe near the toe adjusted for sewing. a is the sole; 1), the upper, and c the last.

The sole, being previously shaped, has the channel (Z d cut at or nearly at an equal distance from the edge all around on the flesh side of the sole, or that side which is to be inside when the shoe is finished. The channel may be made either before or after the sole is tackedto the last, preferably before. After the so e is attached to the last the upper is put upon the last and drawn over the edge of the sole with a sufficient margin for sewing,

and fastened temporarily by tacking or in any convenient manner. The shoe is then ready for sewing. This preparation for sewing differs from that of hand-work only thatin handwork the channel is raised or opened, and for convenience and certainty the holes usually are made after the sole is attached to thelast; but before theupper is put on theseholes are to be followed by'the awl and the holes made in the upper when the sewingis done. The holes are made in hand-work by a curved awl made to enter the sole at the bottom of the channel and come out at the surface of the sole near the edge. The sole is held to the last near where the hole is being made, and the awl assisted in coming through at the proper distance from the edge by the thumb of the left hand. When the awl is found to be coming out too near the edge and the point cannot be raised sufficiently the sole is bent slightly over the edge of the last, the bottom of which is somewhat convex and smaller than the sole.

In my methodof sewing that classof turned shoes known as mock-welts, Figs. 2 and 9, in which the edge of the sole is left the full thickness, not being chamfered off, as in thin edgesfso called, Figs. 6 and 8, but making the edge as thick as theleather will allow, the bending of the sole is a prominent feature, by which means a passage through the substance of the sole is made with a straight needle,

which passage, after the needle is withdrawn and the sole straightened out, will be curved like the path of the curved awl in hand-sewing. In this way I avail myself of the many advantages in the use of a straight needle over any attempt to use a curved needle for this'purpose.

Attempts have been made to provide for sewing with a straight needle by bending the edges of the entire sole previously to sewing; but there is much difficulty in bringing the sole to this condition with uniformity, and the leather is thereby much compressed and a permanent set is put into it to make it retain its position while the shoe is being sewed, which it is very difficult or impossible to remove in finishing, while in my method the sole is bent and held only for the making of one stitch, requiring comparatively little pressure, and after the needle is withdrawn it resumes nearly or quite its original shape, and very little, if any bend or compression is visible, and never more than can be readily removed.

In the two classes of turned-shoe sewing known as thin edges (see Fig. 8) and French edges (see Fig. 7) no bending of the sole is required, the devices used to bend and hold it in mock-welts being used here only to grip and hold it. In thin edges,Figs. 6 and 8, the preparation for sewingis the same, except that the edge of the sole is chamfered off. Then, when the sole is molded to the last, as it is done in hand-work, making it somewhat convex, there is enough of the substance of the sole projecting when the edgeis gripped, and perhaps slightly compressed, for sewing without further bending. In French edges, so called, Figs. 4 and 7, the sole is either beveled or left square at the edge, and is left full thickness, and the needle or the awl in hand-work is made to enter at the bottom of the channel and protrude at the edge between the two surfaces near the surface which is to be outside when the shoe is finished, no edge being visible after the shoe is turned. In this work the hook-gage J determines the pointat which the needle shall come through, and the sole is merely held up to the gage by the gripper I, which may have a spring interposed to allow for variation in thickness of sole.

In sewing mock-welts the bending of the sole is effected by the reciprocating bender and gripper I in connection with the hook-gage J and the stationary foot H. The bender and gripper is moved forward to grasp the sole by means of a cam on the shaft and the lever L to a point adjustable by the set-screw M, which determines where the needle shall come through, and consequently the distance of the line of sewing from the edge of the sole. WVhen released by the cam the bender is car- :ried back by the springN. The hook on the gage J over which the sole is bent is between the sole and last, a portion of the last being cut away all around for the purpose, as shown at c, Fig. 11, thence passing out between the sole and the upper over the rest 10, then hooking onto the pin in the lower end of the bent lever K, at the other end of which is a set-screw for adjusting the gage to different thicknesses of sole. In practice thin sheet-steel is found to answer for this gage.

The foot 11 serves to open the channel to hold the sole in position for the needle to enter at the bottom of the channel, and to partially resist the pull of the thread when the stitch is drawn in, and also forms one of the three points of contact necessary in bending the sole. This manner of gripping the sole retains the shoe in position and prevents the compression or drawing up of soft or thin stockbetween the channel and the edge, which would result if it were held only by the foot in the channel when the stitch was being drawn up, instead of being grasped near the edge.

I use the same devices for holding and gaging in the three different classes of work, with perhaps a slight variation in shape. In French edges the gaging, so that the needle shall protrude at the edge of the sole at a. proper anduniform distance from the surface which is to be outside when the shoe is turned, is done by the hook-gage J, which is fixed, while the pressure to keep the sole against it may be yielding; but in mock-welts and thin edges the needle must come out uniformly on the surface of the sole which is to be inside when the shoe is turned. It is therefore necessary that this surface of the leather where the needle protrudes be brought to a fixed point at every stitch. This is done by the gripper I, which is brought to a position for every stitch determined by the set-screw M, thus forming an effectual gage, and in this case the hook J may be yielding.

The needle, Fig. 5, is straight, and the point is on one side, being in a line, or nearly so, with that side of the needle which is next the shoe, the object being to have the displacement of the material caused by the entrance of the needle wholly on that side of the needle opposite the shoe, that part of the material being free to move,while the other side or body of the sole is held fast and cannot yield, except slightly by compression, causing the needle, if its point were central, to be deflected from the body of the sole, and as different soles and different parts of the same sole are more dense than others, there would be different degrees in the springing of the needle, thus varying the distance from the edge of the solo at which the needle emerges, causing unevenness in the sewing. The shoe is held fast during the time the needle is out of the work by the gripping devices.

In order to remove the shoe after it is sewed and to adjust another, I stop the needle while it is out of the work, and continue the motionof the other parts of the machine till the shoe is released, which leaves the machine in position to receive another. This is effected by throwing back the hook-connecting rod G of the needle-bar D, releasing it from the pin sin the needle-lever F, and allowing the lever to proceed without the connecting-rod, thus permittin g the needle to stand still while the other parts of the machine are in motion. The connecting-rod G is thrown back by a treadle or a handle in any convenient place attached to a wire, t. It is also provided with a set-screw, a, which adjusts the length of the loop for different lengths of stitch and thickness of stock by changing the height to which the needle is raised.

to is the thread, and m the thread-spring for taking up the slack in the same.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The shoe is brought to the position for sewing by first inserting the stationary foot H in the channel d, then adjusting the gage J between the last and upper and hooking it onto the pin in the lever K, when the machine is ready to start. The throat P then comes up against the upper. Then the bending and gripping device 1 comes forward and grasps the sole,

bringing it to a position to be properly pierced by the needle. Then the pin 8 in the needlelever F catches in the notch of the connectingrod G, and the needle goes down through the sole and upper. The bender and gripper and the throat are then drawn back, and the needle feeds the work along for the next stitch. The gripper and throat again grasp the sole, and the thread is laid into the hook of the needle by the looper Q and drawn up through the leather. The feed-slide E and the needle then return, to be in position for the next stitch, and so on till the shoe is nearly sewed, when the gage J is unhooked from the lever K and pushed through and taken out at the top of the shoe,

the last being cut away for that purpose, as shown at 0 Fig. 11. Theone or two remaining stitches are taken, the connecting-rod G is then thrown back, and the machine turned slightly to release the shoe.

In sewing welted work the welt is sewed to the shoe by simply inserting it between the upper and the throat P and guiding it in any suitable manner.

The following is what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The hook J, passing around the edge of the sole and employed, in connection with a clamp or bearin g on the outside, to grip the sole transversely or in the direction of its thickness.

2. In combination with means, substantially as described, for sewing, the hook J, passing around the edge of the sole and employed, in connection with a clamp or bearin g on the outside, to grip the sole transversely or in the direction of its thickness.

3. The combination of the foot H and the gripping devices I J, substantially as set forth.

4. The throat-plate P, adapted to assume a position regulated by the thickness of the work and afford an unyielding support against the thrust of the needle or piercing-instrument.

5. The combination of a spring, U, and a movable throat-plate, P, when the former is made to act on the latter through the medium of an inclined or wedge-shaped connection, so as to support it at any position which it may automatically assume.

6. The detachable connecting-rod, orany substantially equivalent device, for stopping the needle while it is out of the work, when used in combination with the gripping mechanism, the continued movement of which will automatically'release the work, so that the same may be removed or inserted, as set forth.

7.- The adjustable connecting-rodG and setscrew 4;, constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. The last 0, with a groove or cavity, 0, in its edge or margin, when used in combination with the hook J, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

9. The last 0, provided with a groove, 0 for the purpose of removing the hook'J, as described.

EVERETT P. RICHARDSON. Witnesses:

H. W. CHILDS, A. A. Pensoo'rr. 

